Chamonix Snow Report: 1st March 2013

With the sun reappearing, the cold temperatures staying and after a weekend of downtime we were ready to hit the sunny slopes. It is always hard to pick where to go skiing in Chamonix as each area offers something different. Grands Montets gives you the steep challenge and amazing off piste when there is fresh fluffy snow, Brevent – Flegere has slightly more cruisey runs and is often in the sun all day, Le Tour has lovely pistes in the sunshine – perfect for a quiet day on the slopes and Les Houches has the rolling hills and trees. A lack of fresh snow and the sun beating down all over the mountains meant that we had a choice, a cruising day on the pistes at Brevent, Flegere or La Tour or some steep piste and off piste mogul skiing at Grands Montets. We went for Grands Montets.

Having heard that the Lavancher bowl, skiers left from the top of the Bochard, was in great condition despite the lack of fresh snow, we thought that the tracked-out/mogul-covered bowl would really get the legs going and be a bit of a challenge. I am a big fan of piste skiing and would happily cruise around the slopes all day but mogul skiing is a whole other world. The bumps and soft snow really push you to your limits, making sure you bend your knees and work your legs.

The Lavancher bowl was beautiful. The sun had been beating down on it for about half an hour by the time we got up there and the snow was soft and a little sugary with great moguls – perfect for practicing skiing technique. It was also pretty empty and whilst the rest of the mountain was appearing to get busier and busier it stayed quiet nearly all day. I think due to the lack of recent snowfall the powder hounds were seeking out the fresh snow in other parts of the mountain, and with the steep moguls in certain areas of the bowl people were just choosing to head elsewhere. It meant that the bowl was quiet and empty and we had a great day doing long hard laps of moguls, and with the size of the bowl you can always find something new to do.

After 3 laps and extremely tired legs we took a break to have some lunch and bask in the sunshine. The large terrace at the mid-station is the perfect place to sit in the sun, look out on the slopes and have a cup of coffee or bite to eat. The weather was amazing, warm enough to sit outside (with our jackets on, it is still only February after all!) and soak up the sun, it always makes the mountains just that much more enjoyable when the sun decides to shine.

With tired legs and sun kissed faces we decided that we could stretch to one more Lavacnher lap and then head home. We headed up the Bochard, hacked left and took another route down to the Retour Pendant chairlift. Towards the bottom of the Lavancher bowl you want to make sure you don’t drop too low or miss the path to the chair, otherwise it can involve a small hike back up, not something I have had to do….yet, but I have heard and seen lots of people doing it. After this last lap we still had the itch to tackle some more moguls and thought we would make the home run a long one by quickly popping up the Herse chairlift. The red Combes piste underneath the chair looked like it was in great nick but we opted for going skiers right from the top of the lift and taking the off piste, which had a few moguls on and was tracked out but in places had some fresh and deep snow – a little surprise and treat after a leg aching day. To get to the Pierre a Ric home run we took a track through some trees and a little gully which had some more fresh snow. At the bottom of the run we had tired aching bodies, small tan lines and big smiles on our faces!

The sun is due to continue and the temperatures are meant to rise at the weekend. Warm, sunny slopes – perfect!